Has Matthew Vaughn locked in a kick-ass Cyclops?

Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. Forgive the brevity of this, but I have to catch a plane in 4 hours and haven't slept yet.
We here at AICN got a tip-off earlier today from a spy calling himself Son of Rothman regarding a new mutant cast in Matthew Vaughn's X-Men: First Class. We've known for a couple of months that Vaughn was going to recast Cyclops from X-Men Origins: Wolverine and it appears he has done so.
I sent word to another source (who would know) to confirm this before I went to the Predators premiere here in Austin and got a short but sweet yes on this by the time I got back home.
Here's the tip-off:

Aintitcool Gang,
I work in the [REDACTED] and we heard today that Matthew Vaughn found his young Cyclops and it shouldn't be any surprise because he worked with him before. It's Aaron Johnson. This is one hundred percent locked at this point. Thought you guys should know.
Call me "Son of Rothman"

There's been speculation Aaron Johnson might appear in the film after he was spotted last month with James McAvoy who will be the new Professor X, but no one knew for sure if he was in the movie or, if he was, who he'd play.
If my source is to be trusted (and I believe he/she/it is) then we'll be hearing an official announcement soon. But now ya' know.
Vaughn seems to be shaping up a helluva cast. I'm not too hot on the X-Men Babies idea, but I trust Vaughn, I trust Jane Goldman and with McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and now Johnson he's bringing in some top level talent. Thoughts?
-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com
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-and he was Pathetically underused in the original trilogy. It still pisses me off, because James Marsden was great casting. They never gave him anything to do though. I hope they fix that with this one...and since it's first class...does this mean no Wolverine?

The age difference between Cyclops and Charles is about 30 years. Yet first class has them both of the same generation? Won't stop me seeing the film and most likely enjoying it. But to me it does affect the continuity. Or is this a reboot kind of deal where we aren't referencing the previous films?

But those first 3 movies certainly made it seem that way didn't it? That was another problem I had with them. Way too much Wolverine in them. He's an awesome character and all, but again, they shouldn't have based the whole damn trilogy around him.

I really think that the relationship between Raphael and Leonardo in the TMNT movie (the CG one) is what the Wolverine/Cyclops relationship should be more like. Of course, without the whole "family" thing; more of a "team" thing. Am I way off base here? I have long thought this, and I have no problem eating my words if I am.

Actually, I would really, really rather see First Class. Let the old series and it's nearly 6' 3" Wolverine die a horrible death and never be heard from again.
Okay, I'm being harsh, but I really believe that this series NEEDS a reboot.

I'd be okay with a complete reboot. Though I'd like to see FOX pull a Bond reboot move:
Keep Patrick Stewart as Prof X...just like Judi Dench as M.
I realize it'd confuse most people,but I'd love that. He was born for that role.

Not trying to flood the post, I'm just talkative tonight.
There's a loophole to that statement. The way I see it is that the X-Men aren't technically "super heroes". They are shown as regular people with extraordinary abilities. I always thought of the X-Men as separate from super heroes, and guys like Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor as super heroes. Those guys are into the "greater good" thing, helping people, whereas the X-Men kind of have their own agenda (peace between homosapians and mutants). It may just be me, but I always saw it that way.
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So yeah, I get what you mean though, just being theoretical.

Stewart was a perfect Prof. X, and I wouldn't mind seeing it rebooted at all, even though I actually liked pt. 3 (yes, believe it or not, however I hated XMO: Wolverine).<P>
To be fair, McAvoy is a great actor, I'm sure he can pull it off. Just feels a little bit young.

I like the pragmatic solider-king Cyke they have in the comics now. But Cyke has to be the badass. That's the whole point of the character. He's surrounded by these showy powers and demigod girlfriends, and while he would be best suited as an accountant, he trains himself to crazy levels when he can take on all of them. That's the character. A fucking maximalist maniac. Leader of Men. I hated how he took shit from movie Wolverine without a single moment of kicking ass.

can't stand kids on film. So he's got a bigger challenge than if he were making a cool marvel property. Fuck teen angst-men. And fuck fuck FUCK Rogue. Fuck Rogue! Just give me Marvel Superheroes Vs Capcom the movie and let's see some real heroes team up. Make onslaught. Make reed Richards show up as a zombie. Make Doctor Doom plunder Atlantis for all the dark secrets of the universe. Have Thanos FUCK Lady Death. Have Thanos become god. Have galactus land and wolverine rip into his head- fuck man! Shake this shit up. I want zombie hulk biting surfer's head off like a lead figurine. I want a universe completely eaten by marvel zombies. I want a universe completely destroyed and recreated to fix it's underlying flaw by Thanos who inherits ultimate power from it's previous wielder. I'm sick of the little teeny bopper marvel shit

I am a little sad to see P-Stew not in the role, as I agree in that he always seemed perfect for it. For some reason though I trust that McAvoy and Vaughn will pull this off (at least the Prof. X character, not that character of a character to "do", but the look is vital).

For me, anyway. Then Vaughn. Then Goldman (she be higher on the list if she was playing the lead naked woman part, alas...). The problem with all of that is that I'm still not really interested in the movie itself.

The first two films were pretty good, catching the team spirit and the comic ethos; some characters (Wolverine and Prof X) near perfect but Cyclops withered on the vine. The Third film was trash and killed the series as well as Cyclops; such a stupid waste. I like the idea of a Vaughn and Goodman re-boot. Aaron Johnson just adds to the promise. Please, this time make this film worthy.

He's just never been handled correctly in the movies, and the animated version wasn't too good either. The cartoon portrayed him as a grim asshole a lot of the time.<p>
But Cyke is a multi-faceted character, Yeah, he's tormented by his mutant power, afraid that if loses control of it he could kill innocents, but he's also a compassionate guy who truly cares about Xavier's dream and for his fellow mutants. In many ways he's Xavier's physical manifestation, his agent in the field.<p>
He's also a natural team leader and excels at handling the unexpected when he's on a mission. But he's not an authoritarian asshole. He's cool, but he'll crack the whip on his teammates, or kick some evil mutant ass when need be.<p>
I always saw him as a mutant Captain America. Noble, tormented, but cool-headed and an outstanding leader of men and women. Cyclops is the cool X-Man, far more so than that cranky runt Wolverine. He just needs a chance to shine in the movies.

in the background? The human torch? Can we create a marvel universe now where all the movies tie together in some fashion? Perhaps in the reboot after this one? Can we get a lord of the rings level marvel epic? Ya know? Like an average issue of any of this shit. Not like I'm asking for an Avatar-level one.

CYCLOPS is the first and best X-Man. Absolutely 1000% agree. I was never really happy with how Cyke was handled. I didn't mind the actor, just that the part was so small in comparison to WOLVERINE, who... I know the kiddies adore, but god damn it, Scotty and Hank are my fave X-Men. How about you?

He knocked up some 40+ year old. And sorry, although I loved Kick-Ass, it was a box office bomb. Way over hyped and way over marketed. I remember hearing about how everyone said that everyone in that movie was going to be huge stars after this. Sorry, but McLovin will always be McLovin. The little girl is the only one with a chance. I hope she pulls off Let Me In

Um, Kick-Ass made it's 30 million budget back and more. Was it a massive hit? No. But it was in no way a bomb. And considering Aaron just signed on to one of the biggest movie franchises, I'd say that yes, things are looking great for him.
And what does his personal life have to do with anything. Although, he and his lady just welcomed their new baby into the world yesterday. Congrats to the new parents.

I'll have the same thing you're having. I grew up with teh X-Men cartoon, and even then I realized that Cyclops was my favorite X-Men. He's the Captain America of the X-Men. Yes in the past he was a big self centered and favored by the Prof, but considering his backstory I always thought it was a fantastic arc, which now has put him in the "Heavy is the Head that wears the Crown" position in the current comics, showing an independent and dark side to the character that we knew was always bubbling below the surface. I always thought it was funny that no matter how much shit Wolverine talked and pulled, Cyclops could have decimated him into molecules of adamantium whenever he wanted, he was just (mostly) the better man. The fact taht Johnson is playing him means that not only is a great actor in teh part, but an actor the director has an obvious affinity for. As long as there is no chance they try to shoehorn Wolverine in anywhere, we may finally get an X-Men movie, not Wolverine and Friends part 5!! Hopefully considering Cyclops is so young this time around they can include his tragic backstory and show a charcter still learning to cope with his demons. Cyclops isn't a boy scout, he's a very dangerous fucking person, and I can't wait.

Headgeek & Starhump...
Hey, this actually sounds like I am talking to two of the X-Men hehehe.
Quite frankly, I never really cared for the Cyclops character. Always found him to whiny and his power, I just did not dig. Your comments did not change that, but I now see that maybe I missed some interesting characteristics.
Johnson is a good pick, I guess.
However, I want a cool Beast. Grammer was surprisingly good for the older, more settled Beast, but I wonder how the original character (remember: No blue fur) will tranport to the screen. Could be totally awesome or totally ridiculous.

ruined three characters. Wolverine: is no longer tormented by unreturned love. Jean: is a lot more of a whore, who won't stand by her man 100% Cyke: is a pussy who can't keep his girl. It gotten so bad, they had to have Scott had to fuck Emma on Jean's grave in the comics, to balance it out.

but I actually enjoyed 'X-Men: Evolution'. I thought of it more as a 'What if' take on the team. What if---the X-Men were all teenagers. I liked it for specifically the reasons stated above. Cyclops WAS the leader and did a great job as such. And the rest of the team were all well represented also. That and the introduction of the occasional guest appearance made it pretty cool in my humble opinion.

I even liked the first season with goth Rogue and the looser Brotherhood. But then when the world learned about mutants, it became very great. I would love to see the moment when earth learns about posthumanity on film. Could be in the new movie.

Don't see a lot of leadership qualities in him, and he has that whiny voice and light brown bushy hair. I haven't seen Nowhere Boy yet, so I don't how he is as Lennon, but I'm not quite feeling him as Cyclops. Bobby Drake, yes. <p>Don't flame me for this, but I actually think Zak Efron would have made a good Cyclops. That dumbass new Charlie St. Cloud movie shows him taking charge and being tormented, just like a good Scott Summers should be. The basic fact though is that Aaron Johnson is the better actor, so by all means he deserves the part. Too bad they already blew their load with teen Bobby and Warren, because those two actors definitely had the right look.

In the deleted scenes from the first movie he basically tells Wolverine he can pulverize a mountain with his eyes, then warns him (good naturedly) to keep his hands off Jean. And there's some shots of him actually teaching the students. Unfortunately, Singer's crush on Jackman caused him to keep adding Wolverine scenes at the expense of Cyclops. <p>And Nightcrawler will always be my favorite X-Men, may he rest in peace.

I blame Vaughn for directing him to do that grating Tobey Macguire rip off voice and blame the script for never giving the character any room to breathe. There just isn't a solid enough arc there. I thought the film was gonna be about a guy becoming a superhero for the right reasons, quitting for the wrong reasons,a nd then realizing that at the end of the day he really does want to help people. OR they could have just made him continue for all the wrong reasons, douche bag cynicism being about the only consistent theme in Millars writing. But the way it stood they didn't really do either, leaving the character in this muddled void. I mean obviously he's going to continue being Kick Ass, just so they could keep making films, but I don't really see the need or motivation for the character to do so, he certainly never grew into it physically or mentally.

I'd certainly love to just get X4 already, but this is sounding pretty cool. And it's not like the origins of the X-Men are the origins of Spidey or Batman where everybody knows them already. With this, there's at least some freedom to tell some cool stories. And some of the First Class stories in the comics were cool as shit.

It'll be called Teen Wolvie. Because if there's one thing the studios have learned from X-Men, Pirates, and Transformers, its why put one spoon of sugar in your coffee when 10 would make it 10 times as good?

The casting just sounds all kinds of wrong. If this is supposed to tie in with the other movies, having Patrick Stewart as X in Wolverine and then bringing someone much younger in is just... stupid. Now this guy as Cyclops? Don't see it. <p>
And just for the record: favorite X-Man = Colossus.

James Marsden was pitch perfect casting. He's always been my favorite X-Man. I was able to deal with the role they had for him in X-Men 1 - small, authoritative, and room for growth. X2 and 3 sorta just pushed him further aside instead of doing the exact opposite of what they should have - building the buddy cop rivalry/relationship with Logan. It's pretty awful that Twilight (with their Team Edward and Jacob business) does a better job of depicting the Scott and Logan dynamic than the X FILMS!

I am still not impressed. The idea for this movie sucks. I sure do not trust Fox to handle this. Patrick Stewart was born to play Xavier so I'm put off they're going for his "Wonder Years" version with a younger actor. I've never liked how they portrayed Cyclops, Wolverine was o.k. even if he was pretty tame and, well, tall for the part (we DID get him kinda get a little savage in X-Men 2, haven't seen Origins, planning on keeping it that way for the time) but he's NOT the leader, really hated how they did the Phoenix stuff in 3, but still liked what they built in the first two and I like progress growth. This feels like going backwards. <p><p>I hate to rag on this, but really, I think there is genuinely nothing Fox can do to get me to this movie. BlaGyver has a point; the origins of the X-Men are not as well-known as Batman or Spider-Man or Hulk, and they could conceivably alleviate some of the mistakes they've made converting X-Men to film. But we've already got an intro to the group (and we're three movies in), we've had at least SOME pretty-good-to-great casting, all of which they are throwing away. Perhaps most importantly, they have screwed up BIG with X-Men 3, and from all reports the Wolverine Origins flick sucked. Somehow I do not trust Fox to get this right based on that track record. <p><p>So screw it. I'll just read the comic. I'd feel too dirty actually giving money to Fox by seeing this in the theatre, even if it ends up looking (or, dare I say, actually BEING) good. I'm just too bitter, cynical, and against the notion of what they are going for. <p><p>-Cheers

Having seen kick ass at wondercon, where the cast came in for q&a, I can say that this kid has zero charisma whether on screen or in person. I've yet to dislike a Matthew Vaughn film, but the casting for this has been uninspired at best.

Remember when we would just...y'know...go to the movies? No prior knowledge of casting decisions before one minute of film is shot, or how someone's costume either adheres to or deviates from the comic. It still cracks me up sometimes how Every Little Detail is reported on like this is Ain't It CNN. And then, is it rumor? Is it actual verifiable fact? We don't know, we can't confirm yet... this reporter has yet another flight to catch to...somewhere. But no worries. Just a grumpy old man rambling. Go McAvoy and Fassbender. Time for coffee.

First . . . Yeah, the rumor mill that goes along with, well, practically everything thanks to the Internet and instant reporting on any possible detail got old a long time ago. I try to avoid a lot of it, but if it's something I'm kind of passionate about (or against, as this movie is), I do occasionally read & maybe rant a bit. <p><p>Regarding this movie . . . I'm negative toward it and question the details of it just because of how jaded I am toward Fox and what they've done with the X-Men concept. I liked the first one, really liked the second one a lot, detest the third and what it sounds like they've done with Wolverine and are planning with this one. Hence, for me it's an easy target. <p><p>I DO kind of miss when you went into movies pretty much blind. I still can because if it's something I actually care about I'll usually ignore this stuff. This though? It's just me venting how I dislike the whole premise and what Fox has done (and is currently doing). Maybe I'll be wrong, I really hope so, but I am still quite disappointed in the company and the way the series has turned out. <p><p>-Cheers

Have you heard from your sources if there's any truth to the recent rumors of Fox meddling? Specifically, the whole "auditioning other, younger actors for Beast after Benjamin Walker had already been given the role" and "Rothman insisting on a part for Taylor Lautner" business.

To this, or Fox movies in general: <p><p>"Studio exec Tom Rothman reportedly became "adamant" that the 28-year-old Benjamin Walker, who was originally cast as Beast (a choice we thoroughly approved of) be dropped from the project, in order to search out a younger, sexier actor. In other words, Rothman wanted to give X-Men the Twilight treatment." http://tinyurl.com/32e2m6b <p><p> From another article: "The report says that Walker had signed a deal to play the part, but Twilight's success has made Fox want to turn the X-Men into younger versions. After the box office flops that were Knight and Day, The A Team, and Marmaduke, the studio is feeling the pressure to get First Class right.
As of now, James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender are the oldest cast members, both being in their 30s. Fox reportedly even checked on the availability of Twilight's Taylor Lautner for the movie, but with his packed schedule it is unlikely he could fit it in even if he wanted to." http://tinyurl.com/36g5gdy <p><p>I'll pass. <p><p>-Cheers

Reboots are all well and good, and I'm up for seeing an X-Men origin story, BUT where do you go from there that hasn't been covered already? Bet they bring in Wolverine for the sequel played by Phillip Seymour Hoffman. Imagine THAT!

I read the books in the same time period (mid-80's to early-90's). Nightcrawler took over as leader of the team for a short while. Always liked the character. Was sad when he got cut down (forget by who), but didn't they bring him back in the Excalibur books? <P> Second favorite was Wolverine, 3rd Cyke, 4th Kitty, 5th Collossus. Never was a fan of Storm (who was also completely useless in the movies).

How about the Phoenix story that we never really got (and the abortion in X3 doesn't count)... cast a good Jean Grey in the 1st one, take her out mid-way through the 2nd, reappear late in the 2nd as Phoenix, then struggle with her powers and dark side in the 3rd.<P>Fuckers would never do it though.

I mean he bailed on X3, then again on Thor. Obviously he has some issues with Marvel or commitment or whatever. So any excitement (or dismay) over this project is useless because it will all change as soon as he leaves. And then Ratner will come in and shit all over it hahaha!
I really don't give a shit about this. Singer should have stuck with X3, but he didn't and the franchise got cheapened and worsened by the horrible Wolverine movie.
And a Magneto or Deadpool movie would/will both bomb, so I don't know why they bother with that either?
Prequels/Reboots gotta stop. For every Batman Begins or Star Trek, you have a bunch of other stuff that is total shit. Who cares how things start off? I think it's much more interesting to see where they progress?
That's one of the reasons that the Star Wars prequels were not interesting. Bad acting/writing aside, it's kind of lackluster to see characters wind up exactly where you know they're headed. Anticlimactic
Only reason I'm excited for the Alien prequel is Scott's involvement.

A little post 4th patriotism there... But seriously, if Singer and Vaughn weren't attached to this movie I would totally dismiss it, having said that I'm still really perplexed and annoyed by this movie. Are they going off course from the first 3 films, scraping canon for a fresh reboot like the new British Spider-man movies?... Or is this another X-men origins movie like Wolverine was?... They are playing this thing loose if it's supposed to be consistent with X-men 1-3 (and Wolverine) movies. Lame.

Brit who convinced 95% of Kick-Ass viewers that he was "a floppy-haired, high-pitched American" in Kick-Ass.
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He personifies a brash young Lennon in 'Nowhere Boy' and gives maybe the best performance a teenager has given in a long time.
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But here's the thing about Johnson: he loathes comic book nerds (and movie geeks in general). You could see the disgust in him in every media event/interview he had to do for Kick-Ass. He's a young Russell Crowe... super-talented, will have meteoric rise, but he can't stand the 'Hollywood' aspect of the Business (who can blame him). He's not an Ashton Kutcher-type who can easily go on Leno, make small talk and have the retarded audience in stitches.
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For those reasons, I'm surprised he took this role (if this is true). Like someone above said, Hollywood & money are a Faustian Bargain...

We charge and arm and a leg over here for our acting prowess, meanwhile those fuckers across the pond have been acting in plays and what not since birth, and are willing to take a massive pay cut so as to make a name for themselves in Hollywood.

Those movies were genius casting, and toeing the line between "comic book camp" and realism. You're never going to get a better Cyclops, Wolverine, Prof X, or Jean Gray. It's a real shame that X3 so badly screwed up the story.

The studios think "Hey, when they do the publicity everyone will love their accents and come and see the movie". The irony is that the Brits do horrendously stilted American accents. They just work their jaw muscles and it comes out all wrong.

of sentences like everything's a question? That didn't make it over here from Ireland. And the only clear accent equation is English + Southern American = Australian. I know it doesn't make sense logically (or chronologically), but listen for it.

I read X-Men in its various incarnations over the years, and I never liked Cyke. He is the Ken doll of the X-Men; it always made me wonder why a bland, pouty douche like Cyclops managed to pull chicks like Jean and Emma. Maybe Kick-Ass can help make him interesting, but I'm not holding my breath.

what a great idea. Always really dug that character. There certainly hasn't been any respect for older characters. Colossus was one of the first X-men after the originals, and he's been virtually ignored. We've seen no killer Iceman action. When I first heard about an X-men movie, I pictured how cool it would be to see Iceman really using his powers, sliding along ice bridges and whatnot. I had visions of him and the Human Torch on screen together. Reminded me of a 70's Marvel Team-up with Iceman and the Torch where they fought a villain called Equinox who was half fire and half ice, except the halves kept alternating. Ah well, I guess the Marvel universe I imagined wasn't quite in step with the times. I do have hope for Avengers, though.

I never had a problem with it, and he does the same 'flattening' to it that other British actors do. Listen to their upper class/received pronunciation, and speed it up a bit, then flatten. They don't sound like they're from Nebraska, but close enough.

Not gonna see anything that cool in this movie. Singer cracked 2 out of the park. Setup pheonix just fine. Now here is the opening scene of part 3 as it was in the minds of EVERYONE on earth that read the comic. Jean flys out of the ocean with the power of god. She flys to another solar system and dives into the heart of a star, absorbing it's power and destroying several planets orbiting that star. 3 was supposed to be the first taste of what the marvel universe is about- epic as fuck. Instead they made up some shit I guess because they thought they could do better. We'd had a perfect ramp-up for 2 films and the shit could've exploded at a whole new level. I will not be happy until I see an Avatar-level marvel film that fully delivers the scope of the marvel universe. Looks like green lantern will beat marvel to the punch in terms of universe exspansion. Green lantern can land next to dark knight now please. Superman can fly up to lantern before he lands please. I don't need to be in my 80s before I see superman and batman standing side by side in a film do I? Is anyone left alive who really cares? If I had it my way as a kid I wanted Superman VS Batman to be part 3 of the reeves films. Instead we got superman holding a scared black guy on a poster. Here ya go world- eat this shit! I'm sorry but I wanted the costume designer from dune doing the batsuit in 84. I'm like what? 30+ years beyond the thinking of studio execs. Still no crossovers from dc films. They had to reboot batman and still no superman flying by in the background at the very least. I'm sorry but nobody gives a fuck anymore because we're all dying off. These ships shouldve sailed years ago. After rings I was like- surely more people have read comics than Tolkien- perhaps they'll make an epic comicbook film with a huge band of heroes- NO! When?

its a known fucking fact that us Brits can do your accent much better than you can do ours. For every Jason Statham, (sorry by the way) there's a hundred Don Cheadle's. The problem is, Americans think us English either speak with a posh plum accent or a cockney "Awight guvnor!" accent. Trust me, we don't. My personal theory on this is because us Brits pretty much grew up with Hollywood movies/TV shows. The only time you hear our accents inside the bubble you live in is with Mary Poppins etc.

It's simply an impossibility. I'm a second iteration guy. That means the X-men that I grew up on in the 80's consisted of Wolverine, Storm, Colossus, Nightcrawler et al. So, the first team (Cyclops, Marvel Girl (Jean Grey), Angel, Ice-Man and Beast) just never did it for me. It's the same for people who started reading the comics in the 90's and later. They simply won't have the same afinity for the Chris Claremont days as I do. OK, I have no idea what my point was. Time to reboot this post. This movie will be okay if it only features the characters from the original line-up. It won't make everyone happy, but it will be true to the original source material.

Do people really care about this? Why are we now entering an era with comic book films, where they are way more into the "relationship" of good vs. evil than guys with cool powers kicking ass? I hate this new trend of prequels. Although I hope it does well enough to give us Kick-Ass 2.

We need to accept it, just like we have to with Fantastic Four, Daredevil and Spiderman. They are not owned by Marvel, therefore, they can cast and hire the best writers and directors but at the end of the day the studio owns the titles and can fuck with the plot line any which way they want. Just look at Spiderman 3 and X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Some Americans do British accents better than tha Brit's themselves. Compare Viggo Mortenson's accent in LOTR to Orlando Bloom's accent. Viggo has a much more natural sounding English accent than Bloom - who is a Brit!!!

I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed that it seemed a bit dodgy. Don't get me wrong, he was very good in that movie, but that accent sounded somewhere between the standard foreigner-doing-a-flat-American accent and a bad New York accent. This kind of makes me weary of Andrew Garfield playing Peter Parker, a good enough actor for sure, but I have a feeling I'll be having trouble buying him as authentically American. It's kind of like having an American playing James Bond. That's a purely British character and I wouldn't want to invite the scrutiny by casting a non-Brit.

There's no such thing as a British accent! Do you think English people speak the same as Scottish/Irish/Welsh? No we don's as it happens. And Viggo Doing a better "British" accent? Give your head a shake my friend! Orlando admittedly poshed up his accent a bit but it was only a bit. Its like my stating Christian Bale spoke a better American accent in American Psycho than the rest of the cast.....in fact1 come to think about it, he fucking did!

I'm aware of the distinction between a Scotsman and an Englishman (or the others) but there is something specific to that region that I don't see a lot of American actors adequately duplicating. This goes both ways with the occassional exception: Dominic West comes to mind who I didn't even guess was a foreigner when I was watching the "The Wire."

I keep hearing they need Mags/Chucky set in the 1960s, but all these young 'un X-Men would make it in the 80s, post Origins - Wolverine. My head hurts. And while I'm pretty sure Vaughn cast good Magneto and Xavier's (I like both the actors) to be completely honest - if you have a series that uses Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen.... you use goddamn Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen! In the same scene! Face to face!!! That's what they do! Sorry, dander = up.

If theres an English accent to be done by an American its always royal posh or shocking cockney. I used to think most Australians had the English accent pretty much nailed down until an Australian was called upon to do a northern English accent. I am talking Russell Crowe in Robin Hood here. It was basically a fucking mess. That dose not make him a bad actor, it just means he hasn't heard that accent much in his life. Which takes me back to my original point, Brits can do American accents better than Americans can do English because we have been subjected to it from an early age through movies etc. By the way that door swings both ways but only a couple of times! With Connery, Statham etc.

Funny, how I (too) have always thought of Cyclops as The Captain America of The X-men.To the extent that i have always paired the two together when playing Marvel vs Streetfighter or The MvC games.<p>Singer's really assed out (no pun intended) when he made Wolverine steal all of the spotlight and Cyke was just another stand in as far as i'm concerned. Glad Singer's no longer involved although X2 was his best,the casting was fucking horrendous.Hugh Jackman? Halle Berry as Storm?!!?? WTF!<P>I usually dont approve of reboots, but this one is a noted exception.I'm confident that Aaron won't let me down since he was great in Kick Ass.

Look, I hate the negative talkback as much as the next film lover. But, I gotta say I think this movie is gonna be a pant load. Vaughn has proven time and again that he doesn't understand how to balance his wink-wink irony with story and character (Stardust and Kick Ass) and, as a result, his movies feel as flat as a pancake (but, not as tasty as one). This casting of Aaron Johnson (who was equally flat as 'Kick Ass') only proves that Vaughn is sticking to his one trick pony schtick. With all the casting problems this movie is having, and with the start date rapidly approaching, the actors will barely have any time to train and prepare for their roles. And, I HATE prequels. They're pointless. Been there, done that. Not to mention Fox's constant meddling with the series. So, all in all, this movie feels like a train wreck and they haven't even started rolling. Count me out. (And, I agree with the above comment that this is just a contract move on Fox's part to keep the rights out of Marvel's hands. So, boo to that.)

Oh yeah, I really dig the original team. Cyclops was always my favorite, but the Beast is a very close second. Hank McCoy is a clever character. Great powers, a funny personality, yet he's utterly brilliant as well. A real mainstay of the team. They all work really. The first team of X-Men doesn't seem to get the recognition that the Fantastic Four or Spider-Man got (and still get), but looking back now, it's clear that once again,. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby captured lightning in a bottle. A really clever, powerful idea for a superhero team.<p>
The X-Men resonated with people from all walks of life. It just took a long time to find its way. But all the major ideas that make up the X-Men's world are all contained in about the first 11 issues of the title. Lee and Kirby really laid down an impressive foundation.<p>
I hope this new movie really focuses in on Xavier and the original 5 X-Men. There is so much richness there.

In contrast, Wolverine was that guy none of us reading the books could EVER hope to be. You could find a Cyclops in everyday life, the guy that's in charge who is somewhat cool, but he's just....there.

I am 46 years old, and even I am not interested in First Class (not as a comic, not as a movie). I loved Kick-Ass, the movie, but really only because Big Daddy and Hit Girl were so awesome. Kick-Ass himself was boring, while Red Mist was, of course, McLovin. And no matter what the defenders say, Kick-Ass was a total flop (I say that as a fan of the flick. But it bombed, no two ways around it).
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From a studio POV, cheaper actors makes sense. Twilight-izing X-Men makes perfect sense, I can't see how else it would stand to be profitable. They should most definitely add Taylor Lautner. These seem like solid business decisions.
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While we fans would prefer X4, I think there's a stigma of any film franchise going past a trilogy, so it would be expensive and less profitable. It would be a big hit with the fans, I'm sure, but general audience interest wouldn't be that high compared to the costs involved.
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Marsden was as good as anyone could be playing Cyclops. I am surprised to read these people actually LIKE Cyclops. God, no. He's banged the hottest hotties, and he's still as interesting as a door. Famke Jansen was awesome as Jean Grey, but her epitome is really from Nip/Tuck. The Ava/Matt relationship was a zillion times more compelling that Scott/Jean EVER was. And while Emma and Scott are very easy to see as a couple, I still couldn't care less about Scott Summers.

2 + 2 = 5.
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And I am a defender of math, but let's face it, 2 + 2 = 5."
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That is how stupid/ignorant/illogical/solipsistic saying Kick-Ass flopped is. Maybe in your mind it flopped, but in the real world, making 3X budget isn't a flop or bomb.
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Save the term bomb or flop for films that earn back a fraction of their budget, not multiples of it...
<P>I actually enjoy it when people make categorically wrong statements on the internet and believe they're right... it makes me feel slightly elite.

I'm done with Fox's X-Movies. I still haven't seen WOLVERINE, and I'm not going to. I don't need to see it to know that it's crap.<P> I'm not going to see this either, or any other X-Movie until Fox lets the rights revert back to Marvel. <P> Anyone care to join me?

Kick-Ass, IIRC, spent double it's filming budget on promotion/advertising and was expected to open in the $35 million dollar range. It opened right around $20 million and had no legs. It barely opened in first place and dropped off the charts in two weeks. It may not be a huge money-loser, but I don't think it's profitable and it performed way, way below expectations.
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I wish it were otherwise, because the failure of kick-ass seems to be the death-knell for "fanboy" flicks, and I am totally a fanboy.

Sorry but after Batman Begins and Dark Knight and the numerous comic legends such as Alan Grant working on your material, the Brits treat American legends with the respect they deserve and "get" the characters better than American writers and actors... sad but true... but who cares...thank god someone is getting it right at last and we get to see the movies we should be seeing and not some embarrassing groan fest...

Hey AICN guys, when you make these announcements can you always work off of the assumption that some percentage of the readers will not know who these people are by name alone and embed a photo or link to an IMDB page or something? Much obliged guys and keep up the good work!

No, really. http://tinyurl.com/y35swbf Even if it's advertisement was exactly the same amount as they spend, 30 mil, that's still 30 million dollars of pure profit. How in any planet is that considered a movie that tanked?

But I did, and Kick-Ass made $47 million. Yes, that's not horrible for a $30 million dollar movie, and it will make a profit when DVD comes out, but no way does $47 cover the advertising+production, and while I guess you're all hurt because of using the word "bomb," when a movie has expectations of $35 million on opening weekend and it's total gross is $47, that's definitely not a hit. So let's just soften it up and say that it underperformed.

There's a whole other rest of the world besides the United States, right? And that they also release movies in these magical other-lands, right? Just because they aren't spending US dollars doesn't mean that they don't count.
<P> Worldwide Box Office: $95 million. <P> But yeah, I can settle for 'underperformed'.

But there's a website called boxofficemojo dot com, and it lists the domestic and foreign grosses for movies. It's pretty simple to navigate, and it even gives you the worldwide total so you don't even have to add it up. <P> I'm a once-a-week guy, myself. I just go there on mondays to get the weekend totals, but it's there all the time.

macgruber was a flop (though it cost way less than 'kick-ass', but strangely looked more expensive). 'kick-ass' just sort of died in the water. the hype was deafening. the promise was great. but, then the movie was released. fairly good first weekend that quickly dropped like a stone. because people watched it. it was a spider-man ripoff from top to bottom. remember all that noise about tarantino stealing reservoir dogs from city on fire? well, vaughn didn't even bother to change the language. he even stole movie peter parker's neighborhood. people noticed. the characters were cardboard. the writing was dumb. the plot holes were large. now we get another vaughn/johnson pile of thieving garbage.

...march up to the box office on opening day of this flick, and take a big steaming dump in front of the booth. I'm tired of Hollywood giving us nothing but shit, so I'm going to give some back. And I'm gonna eat two ears of corn about 8 hours before hand too.

This is simply another excuse for Fox to squeeze some more money out of the X-men after screwing up the real series. It also prevents the rights reverting back to Marvel for a while longer so we can't get good versions. Why are we going to be seeing kids as the X-Men now? I know it's a school, but does anyone really want the main characters *this* young in a film version? I am not looking forward to further X-Men related movies from this studio... at all.

I'll second that! Way cooler cover art for Havok in those Uncanny days too, IMO.<br><br>
I always look at Scott as that vanilla captain of the football team. The guy is a rock for Xavier and necessary for the X-Men, but I always found him the least interesting. That goes from when I was a little kid until today, where I'm a giant hairy kid.

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